Triumph 2000

Matt’s 2000 receives some brand-new new body panels

With the sill internals repaired and solid once more (PC, March 2020), it was time to make good both the outer sill and the leading edge of the rear wheelarch. Triumph panel hero, Lloyd Reed, of South Wales Triumphs kindly supplied a fabricated full outer sill, which I cut down to two thirds of its original length and trimmed to marry up with the hole that needed filling. David Kingerley of Longbridge Motor Spares managed to supply a NOS rear wheelarch repair panel that, once the rotten incumbent section had been removed, was also cut to size. Both panels were then treated to a quick coat of Rustbuster Weld-thru Primer on their internal surfaces.

Before the new metal could be neatly welded into place, we also had to address the rotten mess at the bottom of the C-pillar. This had begun as a small hole but, once poked with a screwdriver, the area in need of attention quickly grew. I cut the crusty metal out bit by bit, then Matt Tomkins made up a paper template of roughly the right shape, before transferring it into steel.

Once the repair section had been welded in, cleaned up and the finished profile approved, we were finally able to move onto the outer panels.

Top marks

We’d decided to cut the existing outer sill right back to the very top return where it curves inwards, which proved to be an excellent idea. With the repair panel also trimmed to match and thus allow a simple butt weld along its length, I was then able to clean back the welds with a gnarly 40-grit flap disc mounted on an angle grinder. This meant that the final result was much neater than we would have been able to achieve if we’d welded part way down the curved outer sill panel – when I have repaired outer sills in that manner previously, a lot more work (and filler!) was required post-welding and pre-paint. With the outer sill and wheelarch sections in place, both were cleaned up with some degreaser, before being hit with a few coats of primer. I’m very impressed with the results, particularly the profile of both panels, especially as neither of them has yet received any filler. Hopefully minimal work will be required before paint – more soon. matt.george@ practicalclassics.co.uk

Rotten C-pillar base was tricky to repair. A dash of filler, then paint, and the job will be done.

Sill was welded at intervals, to prevent heat distortion.

Wheelarch repair section was a very good fit.